Debate brings out the mongrel in the fans
Paul Sheehan | April 24, 2008
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/new...rel-in-the-fans/2008/04/23/1208743036400.html
IF YOU like insults, sledging, trash-talk and Herald journalists being exposed as ignorant, corrupt scum, welcome to the back page and the back end of the public debate about morality, violence and sport.
After trampling on the sensibilities of a few rugby league fans two weeks ago, I received a flurry of emails which described me as an idiotic, dress-wearing, hate-mongering, garbage-writing, jumper-punching, little boy neville monkey.
I'm not sure about "jumper puncher". It may be related to pillow biting. My favourite was "a monkey with small man's syndrome", courtesy of G. Morrison of Coolum Beach, Queensland.
Such is the moral complexity of the issue of violence in sport that the week after I called for Paul Gallen, the captain of the Cronulla Sharks rugby league team, to be charged with common assault for ripping open the stitches on another player's head wound (the source of all the fury from some league fans), then Big Barry Hall of the Sydney Swans Australian rules team king-hit an opponent, and I don't have a problem with what transpired.
Hall was suspended for seven weeks. Fair enough. The family of his victim, Brent Staker of the West Coast Eagles, called it a "mongrel act". Fair enough. But Hall's actions were less egregious than Gallen's offence. Why? Because Aussie rules players can scrag, poke, elbow, sledge, push, trip and generally provoke an opponent off the ball, so they must accept the risk of rough justice, which is what Staker got after 30 minutes of goading.
A large number of people wrote to support the column's point, that rugby league turns a blind eye to excessive thuggery, but it was too much for the Wrestlemania crowd. Here's a sample:
Sean Willmott: "If you're so worried about your little boy playing football and getting hurt maybe you should get him a dress to match the one your wearing."
Anita Weinberg: "It's the biggest load of **** I have ever heard. Gallen hardly gauged Laffranchi's eyes out did he? All he did was lift the tape and give him a facial."
Christopher **** (i cut my last name out of this article) : "You deserve to be sacked for it, your spreading hate and proves your not a league fan, stick to AFL you jumper puncher!" (nice to know he skipped my whole paragraph on him being sued for defemation)
David Hatchman: "How dare you say that about Paul Gallen. Rugby league is a contact sport. What about the kind of stuff the Storm do 24/7, the Chicken wing, the Grapple tackle + heaps of other stuff. No ones perfect."
Nathan Boss: "I have decided to cease reading the Herald whilst Paul Sheehan is employed as a columnist."
Alistair Davis: "It is high time Paul Sheehan is exposed as being on the AFL's payroll."
Jim Kirkwood: "How dare you take a weak opinion of a great NRL side and write utter dribble about them."
I rest my case.
